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Why Buckley doesn't agree with All-Australian captain call
Jaiden Sciberras • September 2nd, 2025 6:00 pm
Former Collingwood coach and member of the All-Australian selection panel Nathan Buckley has spoken on the decision surrounding Jeremy Cameron’s All-Australian captaincy nod.
The 2025 All-Australian team raised a barrage of questions, with notable absences and unpopular selections marking somewhat of a flawed selection by the all-star panel.
But the biggest controversy of them all was the announcement of the All-Australian captain, as Coleman Medal winner Jeremy Cameron was handed the honour following a stellar season.
Many believed that the captain should have been awarded to the best leader across the season, with several candidates including the AFLPA’s Best Captain award winner Jordan Dawson (Adelaide), alongside several club captains in Noah Anderson (Gold Coast), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs), Harris Andrews (Brisbane) and Max Gawn (Melbourne).
And despite being on the selection panel that adjudicated Jeremy Cameron as the All-Australian captain, Buckley stands with the majority.
“I understand the slows on it,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“Transparently, it’s not where I think that we should go, and I’m on the panel. I’m in the closing debating team, on an outcome that people have already made their decision on.
“How good was 'Jezza' when he did the interview? He was basically taking the p*** out of it as he was going.
“This is what I’ve got – if you look at it logically, the team is not playing. It is a ceremonial position, whether you think it’s around leadership or whether it’s not.
“Of leadership, there is more than just conventional leadership, there is more than just the way we think leaders play out, and I would suggest that not every one of the 18 club captains is the best leader in his locker room either.
“Of elite performance – unanimous. He was one of the first players chosen, he has been a consistently high-level performer for a long time, so that definitely was part of the wading and part of the conversation. He was one of the first selected, he’s had five AA’s, he just kicked his 700th goal.
“The other one is we want personality in the game. He clearly leads in his own way. Football isn’t – to his life – the way that we’ve perceived it to these footy heads that we need to see as captain.
“We’ll look back at this, him being acknowledged as an All-Australian captain I don’t think will be looked at poorly, because when he is finished, he’ll be one of the greats of the game, and I think that he’s earned that position.
“It was a very close vote.”
